Posts Tagged ‘Ohio Tales of the Titanic’

On Monday, June 18, I presented a program on Ohio’s Titanic Connections to a small but very interested crowd at the Keystone-LaGrange Library, a branch of the Elyria library system. Jill Warren arranged the program and it was very interesting chatting with her about the library. It’s clear the library plays a big role in the community. People were coming and going to check out books or movies or use the public computers. Fourteen people gathered for the talk, and some very interesting points were raised …

I mentioned Mr. and Mrs. Orville Root of Lorain who had plans to sail on what would have been the Titanic‘s return voyage to New York that never happened. Someone in the audience wondered if they are related to the family who runs the Root candle company … I don’t know but would like to find out!

During the program I told the story of Richard Otter, second-class passenger and Titanic victim. I mentioned that his widow, Kate Otter, had a house built on West 101st Street in Cleveland, where she lived out her life. A woman in the audience said that she had lived on that same street in Cleveland at one time. Of course she had no idea there was a connection to the Titanic on that very street. An interesting coincidence.

Thanks to all those in the LaGrange community who came to hear about Ohio’s connections to the Titanic … and to the library for hosting me!

Dover was a fun experience!

Before our book was even finished, Jim Gill, director of the Dover Public Library, invited me to come down and give a talk on the Ohio Titanic connections on April 3. Fortunately we got copies just a week earlier! Before the talk, my husband and I met Jim for dinner along with a couple of friends who came down from Cleveland. We had a delightful Italian meal at Uncle Primo’s in New Philadelphia. It was nice getting acquainted with Jim before the talk.

The audience was great. People seemed really interested to learn about the Titanic connections in their part of the state and asked some good questions. Jim and all the other folks I met down there couldn’t have been nicer.

I had never been to Dover before, despite living in Ohio for 18 years. Hope it’s not my last visit. A charming town with lots of nice, well-kept older homes on tree-lined streets. The rolling hills and countryside south of Canton reminded me of southern Indiana, an area I’ve always loved and where I lived for many years.

Here are a couple of photos from the event.

— Mary Ann

Mary Ann gives a talk at the Dover Public Library about Titanic connections in the Akron-Canton area.

Janet looks happy when we met April 2 at Steak ‘n Shake in Streetsboro, Ohio, to divvy up books and sign them for our contributors. We made note of the fact we were doing this 100 years to the day after the Titanic left Belfast, where she was built.

Ohio Tales of the Titanic

The Buckeye State’s Fascinating Connectionsto the World’s Most Famous Shipwreck

About the Book

This book, published in April 2012, relates the compelling stories of the 55 people traveling to Ohio who were on board the Titanic. Among them were new brides who left their husbands on the sinking ship, immigrants whose plans for a new life were torn apart and prominent business people returning from sojourns abroad. Ohio Tales of the Titanic also follows the survivors’ lives after the disaster, as some were stalked by other tragedies, and points out some fascinating modern connections to the most famous ship of all time.

About the Authors

Janet A. Whiteis a library specialist with Northside Medical Center in Youngstown and lives in Girard, Ohio. Janet has been researching the Ohio Titanic connections for decades, gathering information and talking to descendants. Janet is a past trustee of Titanic International Society. She has written articles for the organization’s quarterly journal, Voyage, and is the co-author with Gerald E. Nummi of I’m Going to See What Has Happened, which relates the story of Titanic survivor Elin Hakkarainen and other Finnish Titanic passengers.

Mary Ann Whitleyis a longtime journalist, currently a copy editor at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, and lives in the eastside suburb of University Heights, Ohio. She became interested in the Ohio Titanic story in 1998 when she met Janet and discovered Ohio’s extensive ties to the disaster. Since then, she has researched the Northeast Ohio-bound passengers and interviewed a number of descendants. She has written articles for Titanic International Society’s quarterly journal, Voyage, and served as a trustee of the society for nine years. Mary Ann also has a personal connection to the Titanic, as her grandfather helped to build the ship in Belfast.

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Read what Charles A. Haas, President of Titanic International Society, has to say about Ohio Tales of the Titanic:

“At its closest, the state of Ohio is about 1,575 miles from the spot where the Royal Mail Ship Titanic sank on its maiden voyage a century ago. One might well think that an inland American state would have few connections to history’s most famous ship. Nothing could be further from the truth. Digging through dusty archives and employing intensive Internet researching, authors Janet White and Mary Ann Whitley have unearthed the dramatic life stories of 55 people who either lived in or were traveling to the Buckeye State. But this fascinating book casts its informational net even more widely, reporting on other Ohioans directly involved in Titanic’s story in the years since the disaster. From the wealthy who enjoyed the ocean journey in first class, to the humble immigrants in third class who were seeking a new life in the New World, the authors have woven a new human tapestry for Titanic that is both compelling and fascinating.”

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Read what Robert Bracken, Titanic International Society trustee and passenger historian, has to say about Ohio Tales of the Titanic:

“Authors Janet White and Mary Ann Whitley, after years of comprehensive research and compilation of documents, memoirs, and interviews, have written an informative and detailed book on Titanic and its Ohio people connections which captures the character of the people of 1912. . . . consisting of in-depth research and numerous interviews with a number of Titanic passenger descendants, which evidences their attention to detail in their unique work. The authors have divided their work into chapters by region of Ohio, and then detail all aspects of the lives of those Titanic figures associated with that region. They further chronicle people’s connections to modern aspects of Titanicdom. The book is fascinating in scope . . .”